Strong finish to indoor hockey season for RECKless

Ness players get ready to charge during a Deltmavine penalty corner. Click on image to enlarge.

Saracens, RECKless and Deltmavine all had comfortable wins in the final round of indoor hockey matches, while Lobbyless received the points against Crusaders.

Saracens 5, Deltmavine 1

In a very evenly-matched game Saracens and Deltmavine fought for control during the first half, testing both defences to the limit.

But Saracens’ hard work paid off with great play from Debbie Sneddon in defence and Zoe Irvine in midfield, as they hit the back of the net towards the end of the first half, giving them a one-goal lead going into the break.

Deltmavine started the second half well with a quickfire goal from Alastair Williamson. However, despite the strong defending from Lauren Peterson and Lauren Devonald, Saracens’ unrelenting attack overpowered Deltmavine.

Players of the match were Lauren Peterson for Deltmavine and Zoe Irvine for Saracens.

RECKless 4, Ness 1

RECKless ended their league campaign as they started with a win after a fast-paced game with end-to-end play.

RECKless took the lead through a well-placed shot from Georgia Laurenson from a John Magnus Scollay short corner. The forwards of Ness then linked up well to pressure the RECKless defence, with some excellent passing play from Maggie Kay Irvine, Robert Turnbull and Jillian Copland which resulted in Copland getting the equaliser.

Louise Fraser played well all through the game and put RECKless into the lead after great forward play from Joshua Morrison and Mel Inkster.

Neil Pearson in the Ness goal did very well in denying RECKless any easy chances while Georgia Laurenson again drove the ball home after a couple of rebounds from a short corner.

Bethany Laurenson and Scollay linked well in the midfield to put the pacey Morrison through on goal. He made no mistake in securing his debutant goal, deserved reward for his end-to-end speed play.

Ness continued to push forward and Turnbull always threatened with powerful runs. Copland had a few more shots on the RECKless goal but they were dealt with by Louise Kok who was excellent in only letting one shot past during the whole match.

Player of the match for RECKless was Georgia Laurenson for her goals and work in defence while Maggie Kay Irvine picked up the award for Ness for her controlling work in midfield.

Deltmavine 6, Ness 4

Ness, straight off the back of a heavy defeat, started extremely positively and threatened Deltmavine from the start. Great linking play from Jillian Copland, Maggie Kay Irvine and Robert Turnbull saw the Deltmavine keeper under a barrage of shots.

Deltmavine’s Alastair Williamson worked tirelessly to try and find a way past the Ness defence of Kerry Burgess and Chris Storey who stood strong to close him down as quickly as possible.

Then there was a great breakthrough from Copland who passed wide right to Maggie Kay Irvine who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner, putting Ness 1-0 up and giving them the lift they had been waiting for all night. Minutes later Irvine stepped up again to score her second of the night.

Great team-work and determination saw Deltmavine string a nice attack together with Jenna Johnson instrumental in creating the ball through for Alastair Williamson to secure Deltmavine’s first.

Ness were determined to get another goal and strung some nice passing together to allow Copland time and space at the top of the circle to score her team’s third.

Deltmavine managed to claw a second goal back after a wicked deflection left Neil Pearson helplessly watching the ball sail past into his top left corner to end the first half with the score 3-2.

With both teams riled and raring to go the second half started at a frantic pace with Ness putting instant pressure on Nicola Blance and Lauren Peterson.

Against the run of the game Alastair Williamson managed to get past Kerry Burgess and score his hat trick to see the scores even at 3-3.

Determination and new-found skills set into Ness’ Turnbull as he continued to link well with Irvine and Copland, creating space and making fantastic runs, and he was rewarded with a great finish to put Ness ahead.

Unfortunately for Ness the fatigue of two games on the trot set in and Alastair Williamson scored a further two goals and Nicola Blance her first of the match to make the final score 6-4 to Deltmavine.

It was a brilliant game of hockey with skill, excitement and commitment from all the players.

Lobbyless v Crusaders

Lobblyless were awarded the points.

Robertson Cup

The draw for the George Robertson Cup, to be held on Saturday, is: Whalsay v Saracens at 6.30pm (RECKless/Lobbyless); Crusaders v New Revolution at 7.20pm (Whalsay/Saracens); RECKless v Lobbyless at 8.05pm (Crusaders/New Rev); Judane – bye to semi-finals.

The semi-finals and final will be held on 20th March: winner of game one v winner of game three at 6.30pm; winner of game two v Judane at 7.20pm; final at 8.05pm.

If games are drawn at full time it will go to penalty flicks, with only the players that finished the game on the field taking the flicks. And each player will take a flick before it returns to the player that had taken the first flick.

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